small modular reactors
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Legal & Regulatory
Dow and X-energy Advance Landmark Nuclear Project in Texas With Construction Permit Filing
Advanced reactor developer X-energy and global materials science company Dow have submitted a construction permit application (CPA) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a first-of-its-kind small modular reactor (SMR) project at Dow’s Union Carbide Corp. (UCC) Seadrift Operations in Calhoun County, Texas. The filing marks a major step forward for the much-watched commercial-scale […]
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Commentary
Nuclear-Powered Data Centers—What U.S. Developers Need to Know
Recognizing their desirable attributes and long-term potential to meet data center demands for power, several technology companies have announced their intention to team up with nuclear developers. At the same time, three companies with shuttered nuclear plants have notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission of their plans to restart those facilities, which were closed for economic reasons.
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Nuclear
DOE Reissues $900M Nuclear SMR Opportunity, Scraps Community Criteria to Focus on Technical Merit
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has reissued a $900 million funding opportunity to accelerate deployment of Generation III+ small modular reactors (SMRs), removing community benefit requirements and shifting the focus solely to technical merit—a move that reflects the Trump administration’s revised energy and industrial priorities. The funding opportunity announcement (FOA)—officially designated DE-FOA-0003485—was first issued […]
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Legal & Regulatory
AI Boom Reshapes Power Landscape as Data Centers Drive Historic Demand Growth
The power industry was once considered slow-moving and perhaps even boring. That is no longer the case as technology has expanded and power demand projections skyrocket. New reports released by analysts at
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Nuclear
Italy Passes Law to Bring Back Nuclear Energy
Government officials in Italy have implemented a new law that allows for nuclear energy to return in the country, four decades after voters banned the technology in a 1987 referendum. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called the measure, adopted by the government on Feb. 28, a move toward energy security for Italy. The law, which […]
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Nuclear
Last Energy Secures Texas Site for 30-Microreactor Deployment to Power Data Centers
Advanced nuclear plant developer Last Energy will build 30 microreactors at a site in Haskell County, Texas, a measure aimed at meeting the growing power demands of data centers across the state. The development comes as Texas faces increasing pressure to ramp up its power supplies to address an expansion of energy-intensive industries. The Washington […]
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Power
The POWER Interview: Terrestrial Energy’s Push to Commercialize Molten Salt Reactors for Industrial and Grid Applications
Nuclear technology firm Terrestrial Energy has quietly been making progress on its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology, laying the crucial groundwork for a commercial fleet by the early 2030s. Terrestrial Energy Simon Irish answered key questions about the company’s deployment timeline, market positioning, and competitive edge, offering an inside look at the company’s strategy […]
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Nuclear
Last Energy Secures UK Nuclear Licensing Milestone for South Wales SMR Project
Last Energy has formally launched the UK’s nuclear site licensing (NSL) process for plans to develop four 20-MWe microreactors in South Wales, becoming the first small modular reactor (SMR) developer to make the move. The UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) on Feb. 17 confirmed the U.S.-based nuclear technology firm’s entry into the critical licensing […]
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Trends
Texas A&M Launches SMR ‘Energy Proving Ground’ with Selection of Four Nuclear Firms
Texas A&M University System has unveiled four nuclear developers with which it plans to explore building and operating small modular reactor plants (SMRs) at its Texas A&M-RELLIS campus near College Station. The project—dubbed “The Energy Proving Ground”—is part of a state-supported initiative to deploy operational advanced reactors in Texas within the next five to seven […]
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Data Centers
Bill Gates’ TerraPower Has Deal to Use Nuclear Power for Data Centers
TerraPower, the nuclear energy company founded by former Microsoft CEO and co-founder Bill Gates, announced it has a memorandum of understanding with a major U.S. data center developer to deploy advanced nuclear reactors to power existing and future facilities. TerraPower on Jan. 21 said it will work with Sabey Data Centers (SDC) on “a strategic […]